Maybin: Loving the West Coast

Center fielder is enjoying his first season in San Diego

This is my first year playing in San Diego -- my first year living on the West Coast. And so far, I absolutely love it. It has been a lot of fun. I am from North Carolina, and in the big leagues, I have played for Detroit and Florida. San Diego is a great city. It is cool and it has a good vibe. It is a beautiful place to live.

My family is still back East, but that doesn't stop my family -- my dad in particular -- from following me out here. He will stay up to watch all the games. That isn't necessarily the case for my mom. She will get the news from my dad or from me when I talk to her. But my dad has no problems staying up all night to catch the games whenever he can.

Being with this team is great because, like family, we have a great atmosphere with this club. Everybody is very welcoming, and it is easy to feel like one of the guys. That helps make for a good feeling.

My season, so far, has had some good moments. I feel like I am doing some things, putting together some good at-bats. Sometimes your batting average doesn't always show the quality of your at-bats. I feel like I have done a really good job stringing together some quality at-bats. I want to keep that going and, hopefully, some more hits will start to fall. It seems like some of the hard balls I have hit have been right at guys. I will look at my average at the end of the year, not now.

Good things happen to you and your team when the balls fall, when the balls find holes. It would be great to catch some more breaks. Most people only see the stats at the end of a game, but if you watch our games, we have been in a lot of them. In some key situations, the balls have been hit hard but right at people. We haven't gotten too many breaks so far, and that is just baseball. We have to continue to stay after it and continue to try and break through.

I think it will just be a matter of time before things even out. That is all you can hope for. Go out and compete, and try to find a way to make it turn around. Each guy here is going out and giving his best. If we keep doing that, it will turn.

Fleet-footed center fielder Cameron Maybin was acquired via trade by San Diego from Florida during the offseason. The Padres have struggled in April, but the 24-year-old Maybin, a former first-round pick, has helped pace them offensively by leading the club with 43 total bases.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.